With a thrilling win in the boulder and lead event, Toby Roberts earned Great Britain’s 14th gold medal in Paris and their first medal in sport climbing at an Olympic Games.
When Japanese world silver medallist and favorite Sorato Anraku slipped during his ascension up the 15-meter wall to give the Englishman the victory, the 19-year-old had his head in his hands, unable to believe he had won.
Roberts placed third in the first round of the tournament, which was held over four boulders. Roberts honed his climbing skills on a makeshift wall constructed in his parents’ property.
Then, with just Anraku to trail, he secured a preliminary first-place ranking with 92.1 points out of 100.
Roberts’ gold means climbing, which was introduced at the most recent Tokyo Games, is the 44th Olympic sport in which Great Britain has won medals, both in the summer and winter.
Japan’s 17-year-old Anruku claimed silver, and veteran Jakob Schubert, 33, took bronze. Hamish McArthur of Britain came in fifth.
When Roberts learned that climbing would make its Olympic debut in Tokyo, he was twelve years old. Roberts first went to an indoor climbing facility when he was eight years old.
From that point on, he and his father Tristian plotted a course toward the Olympics.
“I have been training for this moment my whole life,” Roberts stated.
“To say it hasn’t sunk in is an understatement. I imagine later it will be a flood of emotions. It is a goal I have been training towards for like 10 years.”
“He levelled up” during the COVID-19 lockdowns by practicing outside in the garden, and shortly after that, his father rented a place in Austria to have access to better facilities.
In 2022, he took home his first World Cup medal. The previous year, he led individual events and took home gold in the boulder. He finished third in each of the two combined events at the Olympics to win overall gold.
Roberts, who trains in the slopes of France and Spain as well, reached the challenging last part of the wall climb before he went down, but his Japanese competitor made a mistake on the earlier part.
Read Also:Â Ledecky Makes Waves: Secures 800 Freestyle Gold at Paris Olympics
His father, who doubles as his coach, said, “We never talked about medals, just what can he do and the path to get there.”
“Everyone can have a good plan, but to implement it like he has and show up every day to make it happen, that is what he has done.”
Because of his success, he was already known by the moniker Toby “The Terminator” Roberts, which alludes to the role Arnold Schwarzenegger played in a 1980s movie.
“It”s not a self-given nickname,” he stated. “I’m not sure how I feel about it. I don’t think I could really give myself a nickname. I think I’d just call myself Toby.”
